It is well established practice to provide a recovery vehicle incorporating a tilt and slide flat bed body the carrying surface of which can be slid rearwards relative to the chassis of the recovery vehicle and then tilted so that its rear end engages the ground whereby a stranded vehicle can be winched aboard. The body is then returned to its original position on the chassis with the stranded vehicle thereon.
Such arrangements suffer from the major disadvantage that stranded vehicles can only be recovered from positions directly behind the recovery vehicle, it being necessary to line up the recovery vehicle with the stranded vehicle prior to rescue. Thus recovery of vehicles stranded in narrow streets or restricted areas is often difficult.
It has been proposed, for example in EP-A-0087752, to mount the flat bed body on a turntable whereby the body can be lined up with stranded vehicles other than directly in line with the main chassis of the recovery vehicle.
However, the turntable mechanisms, which are usually driven by electric motors through intermeshing worms and gears, are of substantial height and weight, reducing the capacity of the recovery vehicle and extending above the main chassis of the recovery vehicle whereby the angle of approach of the stranded vehicle onto the extended flat bed body is steep.